The People First Party (PFP) yesterday accepted an invitation by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to attend a March 12 protest to express their anger with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) for what they described as his series of political and economic failings.
PFP legislative caucus leaders Lu Hsueh-chang (
Lu said that the PFP would fully cooperate with the KMT in the protest to speak out against Chen and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). He promised to ask PFP Chairman James Soong (
According to Lu, the PFP would also organize an activity on March 19 at the CKS Memorial Hall complex in Taipei to underline their demand for "good lives, peace and justice" and their opposition to "corruption, incompetence and Taiwan independence."
The date was chosen to coincide with the second anniversary of the election-eve shooting in Tainan of Chen, which the pan-blue alliance suspects was intentionally staged to help his chances of re-election, Lu said, adding that Soong would invite honorary KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰), KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) to attend the event.
The NUC squabble has also fed pan-blue-camp charges that the president is merely trying to distract people's attention from the government's poor performance by rehashing the issue, Lee said.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
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